We helplessly stand and watch our
lives sink day by day. Unemployment, weakness to face the boss, new
austerity measures, dilemmas, bullying, austerity measures, sacrifices,
words like “Now, it’s not time for…”, stricter austerity measures, disappointment, frustration, even more measures. Isn’t this what they call crisis after
all? Conventions made by people in time of crisis now seem vacant,
deprived of any significant meaning, just words to nag about as things
do not seem to take a turn for the better. But before crisis is being
presented out of context, they had to give it a different meaning. Over
the years, the media worked at full speed to present the crisis as
something sudden and inevitable, as something ugly and unexpected that
sounds the alarm and puts everybody in great danger. But, no worries, it
is presented as a natural phenomenon, like a storm that hits with
vengeance for a while before it gives in to yet another bright, sunny
day, so the only way to overcome such calamity would be to put aside our
unreasonable demands and wear our bodies off working. A nice picture,
indeed, but it leaves us in dark about the causes, the consequences and
the political exploitation of the crisis. And much more, it tells us
nothing about what is ultimately in crisis today. Against naturalization
and misleading simplifications regarding crisis, we believe that it
exists, it is amplified and reflected in everyday social and class
antagonisms. Speaking of crisis, one must surely have in mind that it is
the difficulty the capital faces to form relations in its own terms.
What is being debated here, is the ability of the capital (as relation
and as value- in motion) to reproduce along with the social relations
and anthropological types that it bears and formulates. Although crisis
refers to the state, to bosses, to others, it also includes us, as we
too are being exploited in the realm of capital-relationships.

Simultaneously however, but
fortunately for us, crisis is an open-ended critical category, which
does not only mean catastrophe, but also possibilities. Today, more
intensely than ever, this slippery ground is the place where the
circulation of capital, patriarchy and nationalism is tested and matched
against the circulation of struggles, commons and microcommunisms. Two
worlds face to face with each other, or better, a world facing its
negation. One that is trying to restore and uphold the existing order by
facing the actual movement that seeks to abolish it.

We think that the most suitable name
for this world is capitalism. We see it today as it asserts itself
through accelerated restructuring and overly intensive processes of
primitive accumulation, while being consolidated with the
intensification of gender oppression, homophobia and masculinity. We
experience first hand the restoration of order via a status of
emergency, a shock doctrine and the manu militari management of social
movements. Realities, such as widespread precarity, terrorizing labour
conditions and unemployment is how this world manifests in our lives.
More particularly, we witness this in gentrified metropolitan centers,
in fortified suburbs, at the gold mines of Chalkidiki, at new witch
hunts of immigrants. We also see it in the transformation of european
countris into a vast concentration camp, a Dachau for immigrants, who
have to surmount towering border fences, while at the same time,
trafficking and ovary trade pass through border controls with ease. Let
us not forget that this world also lies under the mask we wear to
perform our gender and racial roles, under the phantasmatic objectivity
of value that rests in our lives for some self-valorization. It is
embodied in claims for intellectual property, in efforts to enclose
freedom of the internet and it lives off deterministic pseudo-dilemmas
whether one is for of against the memorandum (in Greece), sides with
left or right patriotism, chooses between staying with the euro or
embracing chaos. All these are before us and they never fail to remind
us of the grim outcome that is in store for us if we don’t stand our
ground, if we don’t try to build collective disengagement routes.

On the other hand, we listen
attentively for the echo of riots and uprisings around the globe to
reach us, as their rough or sweet melodies are transmitted from one
social place to the other. This sad world falls into doubt when we block
its restructuring and deny to live a life in poverty. When we refuse to
become more productive, to wake up early for work, to discipline our
choices to “highly esteemed degrees”, to be accredited merely by our
work and how much time we spend doing it. Capitalism is judged when
workers take over factories and their strike is above any kind of
mediation mechanism. When schools are no longer places where capitalism
can peacefully reproduce, as students take over them to miss class and
therefore hinder the intensification of their lives. In times when class
forms through collective struggle and in times when that class doubts
its existence. When a square is under occupation, when people march in
solidarity, work together in neighborhood collectives, furthemore in
immigrants’ struggle for survival and dignity and when people comradely
look at each other. Moreover, when people don’t pay the bus fare, when
they refuse to pay the “charatsi” (special tax imposed on greek home
owners via the electricity bill), when neighbors lock their electricity
power boxes to prevent the electric company from cutting power off, and
when they meet again to block hospital cashier desks. When we throw
stones at a demonstration, when we take the initiative to reduce
supermarket prices, when we block the circulation of commodities. When
our bodies are meaningful, when we question our gender oriented roles
and our sexuality, when we stop idolizing ourselves, when we smash the
mirrors of normality and break out to live the life that was given to
us. It is then when we make the world turn upside down and bring back
home our firm belief that history does not write itself, but it is
written by people. The issue then is to sort out those historical
moments from which we can draw strength. Strength for refusing, strength
for being creative. Alongside all these, there is also the patient
building of a different way of doing things, the creation of different
forms of social organization and collective struggle. Cooking and eating
together, sharing metropolitan parks, places to meet and squats,
vegetable gardens at former military camps, independently organized
radio stations, organizing self study sessions and lessons, setting up
printing facilities, educating through parity and solidarity procedures,
living together in occupied buildings, sharing a network and a mutual
support fund.

Starting from all these moves, some
bigger or more apparent than others but all equally significant, we
accept that they do not compromise capitalism as a whole. We
nevertheless aim to find their common connections and their continuity
among them, to detect those features that point to an eminent
destruction of capitalism. What is precious are the communities we
create for our struggle, the communist gestures, the attack at the
capitalist reasoning. They are glimpses of what is yet to come. The
total denial of what means to steal our lives, the demolition of a world
that writhes in crisis. Some have named this communism. For us it is
important to start uttering this word.

Aims, organization and content of Communismos 2.0

In the above context we believe that it is
important in critical times like these to articulate our theoretical
tools gained from our experience as political subjects in a number of
people’s movements and from our knowledge of setting up multiple
ventures. The proposed conference-festival Communismos 2.0 seeks to help
towards that direction. Certainly our intention is far from considering
Communismos to be a semi-institutionalized organ of struggling
communities, of people who are in struggle, of commons, of insurgents
everywhere. However, we share the agony for the need to collectively
discuss on forms and contents of struggle, to meet as political subjects
having possibly the opportunity to collectively negotiate as a movement
our fighting ground. Picking up the thread from last year’s festival,
we believe it is essential to continue this legacy of talking about
movements, depositing views and contents. So, this year we take again
the initiative to organize Communismos 2.0 in Thessaloniki (Greece) at
Fabrica Yfanet squat, however we wish for collectives in other cities to
take their own initiative to organize such a conference themselves.

At this point, before we unveil the
proposed schedule of this year’s Communismos we find it imperative to
present a brief review and critical evaluation of last year’s
conference. Those three days last May (27-29/5/2011) had been full and
enjoyable. Three days during which participants had the opportunity to
meet, share experiences, exchange viewpoints and deposit their thoughts.
Three days that helped the circulation and critical analysis of
struggles, three days that contributed to people getting acquainted with
new ventures and participating in a process, surely fragmental but also
pleasant and useful, where they were given the chance to map the
reasons for our movements and arm themselves with theoretical and
analytical tools. We state here, that we are committed to distribute to
this year’s participates full reports of last year’s talks and
procedures.

Nevertheless, at this point we would like to mention some weaknesses or negligences that we would like to amend this year.

-The general concept of last year’s
themes and introductions to talks, as they were instructed by our first
call for participation. It is our great concern to finely define this
year’s issues so that discussions become more specific, more usable and
fruitful.

-At set discussions, the presentation
of different ventures frequently included just a simple presentation of
their basic lines. We would like this year’s discussions to be enriched
beyond the requirements of a plain presentation of ones aims, and make
an effort to take stock of our actions, track down the things that help
us move forward as well as our inhibitions that take us back. In this
way we can draw informed conclusions about the future.

-The way we organized our talks
following a pattern of centralized events which included densely
written, lengthy presentations has proven difficult to follow by many
participants and therefore prevented people from more actively taking
part in the discussions. So, this year we propose decentralized
discussions in the form of parallel thematic “workshops”. The proposed
format will encourage a more familiar and friendly, collective
atmosphere that was hindered last year by lengthy and impersonal
viewpoints.

-Last year’s “loose” planning with
long delays preceding discussions and the rush at the end of them makes
us accountable and responsible to keep this year a tighter time
schedule, requiring early attendance and fixed closing times.

-Lastly, we will make sure we improve
parallel, supporting structures, such as accommodation, collective
cooking and dining, as well as more creative ways to enhance our
child-care facilities.

According to everything said here, we
invite political groups, collectives, base unions, neighborhood
collectives, students’ groups to take part at Communismos 2.0 on
25th-27th May 2012 in Thessaloniki (Greece), at Fabrica Yfanet squat.

Schedule and Structure

By structuring this year’s conference we
seek to make it as flexible as possible, more specific and more
participatory. For this reason this festival is spread in three days.
The focus of the first two days is on movements relating to production
and reproduction and what surrounds them. At the last day the focus
shifts to more theoretical issues, with the intention to reflect on what
has been done, but maintaining the relative autonomy that theory must
have. We propose to collectives that wish to take part to choose one or
more of the scheduled theme discussions-workshops and prepare up to 15′
minutes talks so that there is plenty of time left for discussion.
Furthermore, we urge participants to have their contributions in print
so that delegates would be able to consult them during the discussion at
any time. The suggested topics that follow are indicative and in no
case final. Our intention for the schedule is to make it more specific
as applications for participation and proposals by collectives start
coming in.

-Structures of social solidarity and
reproduction: their relation to resisting movements, their limits,
contradictions and perspectives (collective kitchens, give-away bazaars,
self-studying and social tutoring, barter structures, etc.)

Sunday 27th May

The meaning of communism

-Considering patriotism and national communities as a response to crisis

-Riots and uprisings as expressions of social unrest: their boundaries and the possibilities to overcome them

-Approaches to communism and its current
strategies. Does communism lie in relationships based on sharing, in
forming and defending what we have in common, in times of
defetishisation or in the borderlines of today’s movements? Is it
relevant today or a remnant of the past?

-Political and Social: limits and possibilities of political collectives and their relationship to social movements

-Estimates of restructuring: whether
capital adopts as an immediate strategy the devaluation of labour, what
are the long-term trends? (new technologies, new forms of exploiting
social cooperation)

INCONTROLABLES: CONTRIBUCIONES PARA UN NIHILISMO CONSCIENTE

¡Mauricio Morales Presente!

Συναυλία Οικονομικής Ενίσχυσης για άνοιγμα στεκιού στο γαλάτσι

Download now for free from Actforfreedomnow! A collection of letters, texts and communiques from the armed group ‘ Revolutionary Struggle’ and their accused. Released during their current trial and intended to be one more nail in the coffin of the legitimacy of the State and the capitalist system.

Letters from Anarchist Prisoners of the "Bombs Case" in Chile

This document is a collection of letters from the Chilean anarchist “Bombs Case” prisoners, in an effort to share and spread their ideas beyond the prison walls. On August 14th, 2010, fourteen anarchists and anti-authoritarians were arrested in a series of raids in Santiago in what became known as the `Bombs Case`. They were accused of a series of bombings against capital and the state that took place around Santiago in the previous years, as well as of “criminal conspiracy” under the Pinochet-era Anti-Terrorist Laws. Since then, following a hunger strike by the prisoners, as well as countless solidarity actions from around the world, the charges against nine of the accused have been dropped (one of these people is facing other charges in a separate trial), but charges against five comrades remain. They are: Omar Hermosilla and Carlos Riveros, accused of providing the money to finance the costs of the attacks, as well as Mónica Caballero, Felipe Guerra, Francisco Solar, accused of the placement of the explosive devices at different points in Santiago. The trial started on November 28, 2011. Prisoners kidnapped by the State to the street! click the cover PDF